The puppies are six weeks old today. We have had another busy week caring for them and introducing them to many new experiences. They have grown bigger, and each puppy’s unique personality is starting to show.
Food
Maui continues to wean her puppies as they eat softened kibble. She is nursing them less often, so we always have fresh water available for them to drink to keep them hydrated.
Cuddle Time
It’s important to handle puppies and expose them to human touch. We handle our puppies daily from birth. The puppies always get excited when I approach their pen and choose a puppy to sit with me. I am working on teaching them to sit before I pick them up. They love their daily one-on-one cuddle time, where I brush them and give them lots of pats and massages.
Potty Training
We continue to work on potty training, and we are great making progress. Some puppies are more consistent, but all the puppies are improving. We will soon take the whelping box away and introduce crates to their puppy area.
A look back at the puppies’ seventh week
The puppies have had experience walking on various surfaces, and new toys have been added to their puppy area for them to explore.
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK SEVEN
Puppies time spent awake will continue to increase
Puppies will say goodbye to their welping box which will be replaced with crates
We will continue to encourage puppies to use potty box
Puppies will continue to socialize and learn from each other through play
Puppies will start outdoor play as weather permits
Puppies will begin dry kibble by the end of week seven
Puppies will visit the vet for their wellness check-up and vaccinations on Wednesday
Puppies will continue learning from their mama as she disciplines them and teaches them to behave
As always, puppies will continue to get lots of cuddle time.
Another busy week has gone by, and Piper’s puppies are now seven weeks old. They’ve experienced many new firsts, such as discovering new toys, learning “puppy call,” and entering and exiting the house on their own. As they grow, they are becoming a little more independent.
Puppies’ Mealtime
Newborn puppies get all their nourishment from their mother’s milk. When Piper’s puppies were three weeks old, we started them on puppy formula in a dish because feeding twelve puppies can take its toll on a mama. Piper started weaning her puppies at this point too.
During weaning, the puppies gradually start eating solids. First, they eat a ground, watery puppy mush. Second, we soak kibble in hot water to make it soft and waterlogged. Lastly, the puppies transition to dry kibble. This week, the puppies have completed the transition to dry kibble.
Feeding time has become much simpler now. No more grinding puppy food to turn it into mush or waiting while the kibble is soaked in hot water. We just scoop the dry kibble into the dishes and watch the puppies eagerly eat their meals.
Piper will be returning to her guardian family next week, so to help with the weaning process, she wears a weaning suit. Piper isn’t as strict as some mamas who tell their puppies “no milk.” When she wears her suit, her puppies can’t nurse, but she can still spend time with them.
Our Door Exercise
We like to give the puppies outdoor exercise every day, weather permitting. This week, we experienced a variety of weather, from +7 degrees on Tuesday, a snowstorm on Wednesday, and heavy rain on Friday. So the puppies couldn’t go outside on Wednesday and Friday. But for the rest of the week, they enjoyed their outdoor exercise, where they loved chasing each other and playing on our outdoor toys.
Grandma Willow Teaching the Puppies
Willow was a strict mama with her puppies, and we are happy that she can help our mamas teach their puppies. When I let Willow into the puppy area, she taught them “no jumping” and to stay away. A couple of puppies didn’t listen at first, but they soon learned Grandma Willow means what she says.
Piper Teaching her Puppies
This week Piper was training her puppies a couple at a time teaching them submit.
Looking Ahead to Week Eight
Puppies will continue exploring and playing together inside and outdoors as weather permits
Piper along with our other dogs will continue teaching the puppies dog manners
Crate training with the door closed during nap time will begin
We will continue to encourage puppies to use the potty area
Puppies will visit the vet and have their first car ride
Maui’s sweet babies are now five weeks old and have developed from helpless newborn puppies to the “mini dogs” they are today. The puppies are now awake for extended periods but still sleep most of their days and nights.
Socializing puppies is crucial when raising them, which involves exposing them to as many new experiences as possible during their early weeks. This week was full of new firsts. The puppies moved to the main floor, explored outside the whelping box for playtime, walked on different floor surfaces, played with new toys, and started on solids.
Potty Training
We have been working hard to train the puppies to use the potty box. This litter is making good progress; some puppies are more consistent than others, but all are improving. Once they become more reliable, we will remove the whelping box and replace it with crates.
Solids
The puppies are now eating soft kibble. I soak the regular kibble in boiling water and let it sit, which makes it easier for the puppies to eat. Gradually, I reduce the amount of water and soaking time, working towards puppies eating dry kibble by seven weeks of age.
Looking Back at week five
Looking Ahead to Week Six
Awake time will continue to increase
Puppies will continue learning to use the potty box
Introduce crates to the puppy area
Socialize with each other through play
As they walk on uneven ground, their balance will continue to improve
Daily Outdoor play time as weather permits
Puppies will continue learning from their mama and our other adult dogs as they teach them dog manners
How quickly the weeks go by. It is hard to believe that Maui’s puppies are four weeks old. This week, we have been focusing on potty training. Although they still sleep a lot during the day, when awake, they enjoy socialising with their littermates through play and by climbing onto my lap for cuddles.
Mama’s Milk is best
Maui continues to be an excellent mother caring for her puppies. She has done a wonderful job feeding them….they are very chubby! Maui is still willing to nurse her puppies, so we haven’t started solids yet. Since birth, she nurses them in a lying-down position, but I have seen her feed them standing a couple of times, which suggests she will begin the weaning process.
Laying downStanding Position
Those Adorable Faces
We’re a little late with our weekly blog again because of Piper’s Selection Day prep. These pictures were definitely worth the wait. How adorable are those faces!
The Girls
Pink Collar GirlPurple Collar Girl
The Boys
Fluorescent Green BoyDark Blue BoyRed BoyLight Blue BoyYellow Boy
Potty training continues
Partway through this past week, we introduced a separate potty area. This provides the puppies with a whelping box for sleeping and playing, and we encourage them to use the potty box when needed. We use pine pellets in the potty box.
A look back at week four
Looking Ahead to Week Five
Moving to the main floor
Introduce Solids
Puppies will continue learning to use the potty area
Awake time will increase
The puppies will continue to socialize with each other through play
Toys will be added to our whelping box for puppies to explore
Intorduce play area
Mama will begin to add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.
Piper’s Six Week Old Sweethearts
Piper’s sweet puppies are now six weeks old and growing more adorable each day. We’ve had another busy week caring for the puppies and introducing them to many new things. They have grown bigger, and you can see each pup’s unique personality developing. We usually introduce our puppies to the outdoors at five weeks of age, but we’ve experienced very cold weather this past week and weren’t able to let the puppies outside to play until Friday. The puppies love being outdoors and enjoy running and playing together.
New Play Area
This week, the puppies got a new play area. They enjoy the extra space and new toys.
Lots of new toys to explore; a slide, tunnel, wobble disc to name a few. We also have potty boxes and a crate. The puppies explored inside the crate and even took a nap.
Puppy Selection Day
One of the highlights of the eight weeks of raising puppies is Puppy Selection Day. We love meeting the forever families and feeling the excitement as each family meets their new puppy. We had a great day meeting everyone, and I know that each of our puppies has found a loving forever home.
After a busy day visiting many families, the puppies were tired and slept most of the evening.
A look back at week six
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK SEVEN
As always, puppies will continue to get lots of cuddle time.
Puppies time spent awake will continue to increase
Puppies will begin dry kibble by the end of week seven
We will continue to encourage puppies to use potty area inside and out
Puppies will continue to socialize and learn from each other through play
Puppies will continue exploring and playing together outdoor as weather permits
Puppies will continue learning from their mama and our other adult dogsas she disciplines them and teaches them to behave
Look for the Puppies Six week old pictures this week
Piper’s puppies are now five weeks old and have developed from helpless newborn puppies to the “mini dogs” they are today. The puppies are now awake for longer periods and enjoy playing with each other, and their toys, and cuddle time. We can now see their personalities starting to develop.
It is important when raising puppies to socialize them which means introducing them to as many new experiences as possible when they are young. For instance, this week the puppies have been introduced to different sounds, different floor surfaces, new toys, and our other adult dogs.
Puppies Start Solids
The puppies are always excited when they smell the food being prepared.
We start the puppies on a water puppy mush with ground puppy kibble, puppy formula and boiled water. Then we gradually been make the puppy mush thicker.
The puppies have started eating water-soaked kibble. We will guaually reduce the water and soaking time and by seven weeks, they will begin eating dry kibble.
notice the difference
Should I sleep alone or with a buddy?
The puppies still spend much of their time sleeping. This is when they grow and process what they’ve learned while awake. Remember the puppy huddles? Now that they are bigger and can regulate their temperature, some puppies sleep in groups or with a buddy, while others sleep alone. This week, new beds were added to the puppy area. They quickly became a favourite spot to sleep… So comfy!
Potty Training
We have been working hard on training puppies to use the potty box. Some of the puppies are more consistent than others, but all of them are making progress. It’s amazing to see puppies wake up or stop playing and go over to use their potty box.
We have now introduced pine pellets to the Potty Box.
A look back at week five
Looking Ahead to Week Six
Awake time will continue to increase
Introduce New Indoor Play Area
Outdoor exercise will begin and puppies will have daily outdoor play time as weather permits
Continue learning to use potty box
Socialize with each other through play
Puppies will continue learning from their mama and our other adult dogs as they teach them dog manners
Maui’s puppies are now three weeks old and have progressed rapidly this week. With only seven puppies to feed, they are quite chubby. Their eyes have fully opened, and their vision is getting better. Their ears have also opened, and they now respond to sound.
Puppy Culture
This week the puppies were in the Transitional Period. We continued our ENS exercises which cause tiny stresses to benefit our puppies with greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. Sunday was Day 16 of the puppies life and the final day for our ENS exercises.
Critical Socialization Period (weeks 3 – 12)
The next period for Piper’s puppies is the Critical Socialization Period. We know that puppies have entered into this period when the react to sounds. We raise our puppies following many of the Puppy Culture protocols. These protocols helps us reach our goal “To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies“.
Over the remaining weeks we will be working on new experiences for the puppies by exposing them to as many new experiences as possiblein order to raise the best possible companion for their forever families.
Emotional Intelligence
Because Goldendoodles are companion dogs, it is important to teach emotional intelligence from young puppies and start them on a great beginning. With this intention we follow 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy.
Communication – giving a puppy his own voice i.e. Communication Trinity: power up clicker, box game, manding and attention/distraction protocols
Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress i.e., startle recovery, barrier challenges etc
Habituation – familiarize the puppies with the maximum number of things during their Critical Development Period. In particular, Puppy Parties, sound protocols, household noises as well as meeting different people and dogs.
Enrichment – teach the puppies that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment not things to be feared or avoided. For example, ongoing introduction of new novelty items, activity centre, car ride, outdoors, etc.
Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way . For instance, daily weight checks, grooming, proper nutrition, fecal checks, and deworming, if necessary, vet health checks and vaccinations)
Skills – learned behaviors which teach the puppy to function in human society i.e. recall, manding, simple commands, potty box training, crate introduction, resource guarding, bite inhibition etc.
Love – teach puppies to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences: i.e., Daily cuddles with humans and puppy’s mom.
Shaping emotional responses: happy and calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses). For instance, treats and encouragement during puppy training.
Potty Training Begins
Now that the puppies can void on their own, they naturally move away from their sleep area to go potty. To encourage the puppies to “go in one spot,” we have divided the whelping box into a sleep/play area and a potty area, adding bolster beds and potty pads.
Daily Cleaning
Raising puppies involves daily chores, including cleaning. We clean and disinfect the whelping box and replace it with fresh vet bedding each day.
While cleaning the puppies’ whelping box, I placed them in a laundry basket. They have started to climb out, so on Thursday I put a quilt on the ground and let the puppies explore while I cleaned their whelping box. I thought Maui would lie down on the quilt and feed them, but to my surprise, she went into her crate and her puppies followed.
Maui feeds her puppies in her crate.
Maui’s Three Week Old Puppies
Looking Back at Week Three
Looking Ahead to Week Four
Puppies will still sleep much of the day/night as they continue to grow rapidly
Interact with littermates through play which will help develop important social skills
Whelping box will expand with the introduction of litter box
Becoming steadier on their feet
Practicing walking on all fours strengthens their hind legs
Hearing will improve
Puppy milk teeth will erupt
Puppies will be moving to the main floor towards the end of the week
It’s hard to believe that Piper’s puppies are already four weeks old. They’ve come so far in such a short time.
A lot has happened this past week! Learning to lap puppy formula, moving to the main floor, the puppies’ milk teeth have erupted, their hind legs have become stronger, and their awake time has gradually increased. When awake, they love socializing with their littermates through play. The puppies still sleep a lot during the day.
Starting to Wean
Piper is weaning her puppies and feed them in the standing position.The puppies teeth have started to come in
The puppies have started on puppy formula this week. They learned to lap up the liquid.
Time to Begin Potty Training
This week, the puppies have been using potty pads in their whelping box. On Thursday, we moved them to the main floor and expanded their whelping area with the potty box extension. Puppies need to learn that they cannot “go” anywhere. We teach them that “there is an acceptable place to go potty.” Teaching them this early helps prevent the development of bad habits that might be difficult to break later. This effort will benefit their forever families by making housebreaking easier when they go to their new homes.
We moved the puppies downstairs and started them in their potty box. They sniffed around, exploring the new area. I sat in their whelping box and encouraged them to come through the little door.
The puppies went to sleep after the big move
A look back at week four
Saturday the puppies explored outside the whelping box and the additiong of some toys
Looking Ahead to Week Five
Puppies will continue learning to use the potty area
Start on puppy food
Awake time will increase as the puppies socialize with each other through play
Introduce new toys
Mama will add the invaluable teaching phase to her caring & protecting responsibilities over the next weeks.
Two weeks have passed since Maui’s puppies came into the world. They are growing like weeds and getting chunky. Maui is devoted to her babies and is a wonderful mama who cares for their every need.
There is plenty to keep us busy while raising puppies, including ENS, cleaning, weighing, and laundry, just to name a few.
Puppy Culture
We raise our puppies using many of the protocals from the Puppy Culture program.
Neonatal Period: Day 0-14
The first 12 weeks of a puppy’s life are incredibly important. This is an almost magical time when a breeder has the power to change the outcome of a puppy’s life by what we choose to teach them. Consequently, by doing just the right things at just the right time, we can give the puppies the best start possible.
Early Neurological Stimulation
This week we continued our ENS Exercises with the puppies. As we have previously mentioned, ENS begins on day 3 and continues through day 16. Research shows that tiny struggles and stresses in small doses are good for puppies and will help them grow into strong, healthy well-adjusted adults. The benefits include greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. This is a gift that a breeder can only give their puppies during the 3 – 16-day window.
Transitional Period @ Two weeks old
Now that the puppies’ eyes have opened, they have entered the Transitional Period. Every puppy is different so “Behavioural Markers” are used to identify the beginning and end of each developmental period. These timelines are simply guidelines. The transitional period (approximately Day 14 – 21) begins when the puppy’s eyes open and ends when they first startle upon hearing sounds.
Milestones
When raising puppies, we watch for Milestones to gauge their progress. This week, Maui’s puppies reached two milestones.
Weigh-In
The puppies’ first milestone this week was doubling their birth weight. Maui’s puppies gained weight quickly, with one puppy doubling its weight by day seven and the others catching up over the following two days. This rapid weight gain is similar to Maui’s previous litter. Great job, Maui!
Eyes Opened
Day 10
Another milestone was reached during the week—eye-opening. On day ten, I was excited to notice five of our puppies had opened their eyes:. Over the next two day, the other two puppies’ eyes opened too
Seeing the puppies look back at me is always exciting—I think they look more “alive”!
Looking for a comfy spot to sleep
Can you hear her?
Maui cleans her babies before feeding them
Looking back at week two
Looking Ahead to Week Three
ENS exercises will continue until day 16
Puppies will continue to eat and sleep most of their day
Sight will become clearer
Ears will open, and they will begin to hear
Puppies will practice walking on all fours, strengthening their hind legs
They will become more aware of their littermates and start to interact
Pipers’ adorable puppies are now three weeks old and have progressed rapidly this week. The puppies have grow bigger with each passing day, their eyes have fully opened, and their vision is improving.The puppies’ ears have also opened and now react to sound.
Piper’s puppies are becoming more aware of their surroundings and have started playing with each other during their brief “awake” periods. During this time, they get quite noisy as they practice vocalizing. However, they still sleep most of the day and night.
Puppy Culture
This week the puppies were in the Transitional Period. We continued our ENS exercises which cause tiny stresses to benefit our puppies with greater tolerance to stress, greater resistance to disease, faster adrenal system, stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeat. Friday was Day 16 of the puppies life and the final day for our ENS exercises.
Critical Socialization Period (weeks 3 – 12)
The next period for Piper’s puppies is the Critical Socialization Period. We know that puppies have entered into this period when the react to sounds. We raise our puppies following many of the Puppy Culture protocols. These protocols helps us reach our goal “To Raise Healthy, Calm, Confident, Well-Adjusted Puppies“.
Over the remaining weeks we will be working on new experiences for the puppies by exposing them to as many new experiences as possiblein order to raise the best possible companion for their forever families.
Emotional Intelligence
Because Goldendoodles are companion dogs, it is important to teach emotional intelligence from young puppies and start them on a great beginning. With this intention we follow 7 key things that will nurture the emotional intelligence of a puppy.
Communication – giving a puppy his own voice i.e. Communication Trinity: power up clicker, box game, manding and attention/distraction protocols
Emotional stability – the ability to recover easily from fear as well as stress i.e., startle recovery, barrier challenges etc
Habituation – familiarize the puppies with the maximum number of things during their Critical Development Period. In particular, Puppy Parties, sound protocols, household noises as well as meeting different people and dogs.
Enrichment – teach the puppies that novelty and challenges are opportunities for enrichment not things to be feared or avoided. For example, ongoing introduction of new novelty items, activity centre, car ride, outdoors, etc.
Health – physical wellness and motor skills that will allow the puppy to develop in a neurologically and physically sound way . For instance, daily weight checks, grooming, proper nutrition, fecal checks, and deworming, if necessary, vet health checks and vaccinations)
Skills – learned behaviors which teach the puppy to function in human society i.e. recall, manding, simple commands, potty box training, crate introduction, resource guarding, bite inhibition etc.
Love – teach puppies to seek out the company of both dogs and humans as emotionally positive experiences: i.e., Daily cuddles with humans and puppy’s mom.
Shaping emotional responses: happy and calm CER (Conditioned Emotional Responses). For instance, treats and encouragement during puppy training.
Puppy Cuddles
The puppies had a visit this week from some of my grandchildren. I am blessed with fifteen grandchildren who love to cuddle puppies. This interaction is very beneficial for the puppies as they are introduced to people of all ages.
Starting Potty Training
Now that the puppies can void on their own, they have an instinct to move away from their sleep area to go potty. To encourage the puppies to “go in one spot, “ we have divided the whelping box into a sleep/play area and a potty area with the addition of bolster beds and potty pads.
The next step in potty training is to expand the whelping box with the Potty Box Addition. The puppies are not quite ready to climb through the door and into the new section, but they progress quickly and will soon be able to master this.
This is when we begin using litter boxes with pine pellets.
Look at Piper’s Three Week Old Puppies
A Look Back At Week Three
Looking Ahead to Week Four
Puppies will still sleep much of the day/night as they continue to grow rapidly
Interact with littermates through play which will help develop important social skills
Whelping box will expand with the introduction of litter box
Becoming steadier on their feet
Practicing walking on all fours strengthens their hind legs
Hearing will improve
Puppy milk teeth will erupt
Puppies will be moving to the main floor towards the end of the week
We’ve had an especially busy week—looking after a two-week-old litter of twelve, Maul’s newborns, and then our daughter’s baby girl (grandbaby #15) decided to make an early arrival. Something had to give, so Maui’s one-week blog is a day late.
Maui’s puppies are already one week old. Both mama and her little ones are doing well and growing rapidly. Maui is a wonderful mama and cares beautifully for her puppies. She spent the first few days in the whelping box and only left for bathroom breaks. After a few days, she began taking longer breaks, but it wasn’t long before she was back in her room to look after her puppies.
Whelping Day
Maui kept us waiting again. Just like her previous litter, Maui’s puppies were born well past the due date. She deliveried on Day 68 of her pregnancy.
As always, whelping day is filled with anticipation and awe. Even though we had two whelps this month, I never tire of the miracle of birth and the instincts God has given animals.
Maui’s labour started on Thursday, January 15th, late in the afternoon. Throughout the night, I didn’t sleep well because I could hear Maui moving around the bedroom and being restless. Morning arrived, but no puppies yet. I kept Maui quite in our bedroom so that she could rest before her puppies finally made their arrival.
I went into the whelping box with Maui just after 11 am when it was clear her time was about to begin. Maui’s first puppy arrived at 11:12 am., a beautiful black male.
Maui settled into caring for her new arrival as her labour continued. Over the next few hours, Maui delivered seven beautiful puppies – five boys and two girls. Well done, Maui.
A look back at whelping day
Settling into a Routine
Mothers Pudding
Our mamas have a big job looking after their newborns. We pamper the mothers so they can give the best care to their little ones. One thing that all our mothers love is “Mother’s Pudding.” It has lots of calcium and ingredients to help them regain their strength. Maui didn’t want to leave her puppies, so we fed her right in the whelping box next to her puppies.
Neonatal Period
Newborn puppies are in the Neonatal Period. During this stage, they spend their days eating and sleeping. Sleep, eat, and more sleep. Did you know that newborn puppies sleep over 22 hours a day.
Daily Weigh-In
Each day, we weigh each puppy to monitor their growth. If a puppy doesn’t gain weight, it indicates something might be wrong. We’re pleased that Maui’s puppies are all gaining weight quickly.
ENS
On Monday, day three we began our ENS exercises. These exercises are done daily from day 3 – day 16. Through ENS, we introduce little stresses to the puppies which has been proven to produce calmer puppies. It also produces greater tolerance to stress, greater disease resistance, a faster adrenal system, a stronger heart rate and stronger heartbeats.
Socialization
We handle our puppies from birth for daily cuddles in addition to ENS. This is to make them comfortable with the human touch early in their life.
Looking Back at Week One
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK TWO
Much the same as week one – Eat, Sleep, Repeat!
Puppies will continue growing rapidly
Puppies still crawl; hind legs will become stronger
Contunie ENS
Eyes should begin to open towards the end of the week – so exciting !!!
